A Reflection on Black History Month- By Christion Barnes

Mr. Christion Barnes-Software Engineer-SupplyHive

To Honor Black History Month- We will highlight several African America professionals across the Start-up/Software Community as part of our Representation Matters Series. Our first highlight is non other than our very own Mr. Christion Barnes. Christion grew up on the South Side of Chicago where he attended Morgan Park High School. With various hobbies that stoked his creative nature such as photography, he never imagined that a career in Software engineering was a possibility. It was during his studies at Iowa State University that he was inspired by his roommate to pursue a degree in computer software engineering. As a field with low representation in black and brown communities, Christion serves as a trailblazer in the software engineering field. On the SupplyHive team he works on a major account as the point developer alongside a team comprised of our customer service and sales professionals. Knowing that he is one of the ‘few’ for now, Christion took some time to reflect on the significance of his role against the backdrop of Black History Month.


Black History Month in America. Is it a time for celebration, or maybe a time for mourning? For me, I like to think it is a time for reflection. A reflection on how far we, as Black people, and how we as a nation, have come. Reflecting on the present state of our society, and lastly, reflecting on what our future could be. When we reflect on this turbulent time (that was not that long ago I might add) we as a people have the opportunity to not only see the mistakes of the past, but LEARN from them. However, learning from them is also not enough. Growing up, my step-father instilled in me that you haven’t really learned something unless you have the ability to apply the knowledge that you have learned. 
 
In today’s ever-changing society and many technological advancements, what better time to apply the lessons that we have learned from our troubled past? As the tech industry and digital era are continuously evolving, we can make sure that everyone has a piece of the pie. Blacks (and other minority groups) need and deserve access to good education, life-changing opportunities, even luxury, if we are ever going to move forward as a truly unified nation.  

A large part of the reason why as, a young black man from the South side of Chicago, I decided to entrench myself in the tech industry. I did this despite the fact that while  growing up I was never afforded that opportunity or relevant education before college (unlike many of my old college classmates). I want to show other young black men and women that this is our generation’s gold rush (maybe bitcoin rush), and now is our time to stake our place in the future of America.

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SupplyHive™ Named to Built In Chicago’s List- Future 5 of Chicago Tech Q1 2022

From Built in Chicago

SupplyHive™ (Software)

In any organization, it takes a team to accomplish a common goal, and that team extends beyond the employees that make up a company’s internal workforce. Behind most organizations is a network of suppliers that helps that workforce get their jobs done. Given the important role suppliers play, it’s imperative that businesses manage their suppliers’ performance regularly to ensure the company keeps thriving.

“In a honeybee colony, the survival of the entire colony depends on the coordinated actions of individuals,” Lou Sandoval, president and CEO of SupplyHive, told Built In. “We believe the same to [be] functionally true for a supplier network: leveraging the power of a supplier network for the benefit of all, [and] using the insights gained to improve performance and return on investment.” 

SupplyHive is a software platform that helps corporations rate, review, and score their suppliers. Its solution leverages AI, machine learning and natural language processing to help companies centralize, standardize, scale and automate the supplier performance process. The early concept for the platform was for it to be like Yelp for suppliers, but with access to deeper and more insightful analytics.

The company works to help businesses increase the value of their supply chain through collective awareness of performance data, results and relationships. Users can choose or create a review template and invite their teams to submit a review. That data is then processed with AI into a qualitative and quantitative report that shows the business how that supplier performs for it as compared to other companies.

With the current enterprise resource planning market dominated by systems-based software providers, SupplyHive is looking to disrupt the sector by delivering clear and tangible value as a point solution that integrates with other like-minded product-first platforms. The end goal? A holistic user experience, Sandoval said.

Founded in 2018, SupplyHive brought on its first seven enterprise customers in 2020. Today it serves names including McDonald’s, Nike, Meta and Mars.

SupplyHive™ Named a Cool Vendor in 2021 Gartner® “Cool Vendors™ in Strategic Sourcing Technology” Report

SupplyHive™, a Chicago-based innovative provider of Supplier Performance Management (SPM) technology, announced today that it has been recognized in the 2021 list of Cool Vendors in the “Cool Vendors in Strategic Sourcing” 1 report published by Gartner.

CHICAGO (PRWEB) DECEMBER 21, 2021

SupplyHive™, a Chicago-based innovative provider of Supplier Performance Management (SPM) technology, announced today that it has been recognized in the 2021 list of Cool Vendors in the “Cool Vendors in Strategic Sourcing” 1 report published by Gartner.

According to Gartner, “This research does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors in any given technology area, but rather is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services.” The report further states, “Promising supplier management Cool Vendors, such as those covered here, offer solutions that augment an organization’s ability to preserve, and extract added value from new and existing supplier relationships. When considering vendors for this research, we looked for solutions that could fill specific use cases in a company’s digital roadmap. These Cool Vendors target the need for better and more collaborative supplier management with faster and better decision making across increasingly complex and ever-expanding supply chain networks and supplier ecosystems.”

We believe, SupplyHive’s™ platform automates the analysis rating and scoring of a company’s suppliers based on supplier performance data and reviews. By minimizing time on data collection procurement teams can spend time on strategic decisions and relationship building through hyper automation and supplier enablement use cases. Organizations benefit from the use of sentiment analysis and machine learning to drive operating efficiency and improved supplier performance at scale.

Read The Full Press Release: SupplyHive™ Named a Cool Vendor in 2021 Gartner® “Cool Vendors™ in Strategic Sourcing Technology” Report


Read the Gartner Cool Vendors in Strategic Sourcing Report


SupplyHive™ Gears Up as McDonald’s Trusted Partner; Chicago-based company opens doors for a more diverse vendor supply chain


SupplyHive™, an innovative provider of Supplier Performance Management (SPM) technology, is gearing up to become a new McDonald’s Corp. trusted partner to help further diversify the restaurant corporation’s vendor supply chain and to open doors for businesses owned by women and/or Black, Hispanic, Asian, Indigenous, Veteran, LGBTQ+, and disabled persons.

CHICAGO (PRWEB) OCTOBER 19, 2021

SupplyHive™, an innovative provider of Supplier Performance Management (SPM) technology, is gearing up to become a new McDonald’s Corp. trusted partner to help further diversify the restaurant corporation’s vendor supply chain and to open doors for businesses owned by women and/or Black, Hispanic, Asian, Indigenous, Veteran, LGBTQ+, and disabled persons.

As an example of its commitment to McDonald’s Mutual Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (MCDEI) pledge, SupplyHive’s™ signed the document and further solidified its commitment to the restaurant giant as well as with minorities in the supply chain.

Twenty U.S.-based suppliers are also signatories that are working together with the shared goals of supporting and empowering diverse-owned businesses, creating new pipelines of talent, driving greater innovation and competition, and building economic growth in diverse communities. The McDonald’s U.S. System spent around $14 billion throughout its U.S. supply chain in 2020, including 23% with diverse-owned suppliers. McDonald’s also said in July that it expects to increase purchases of goods and services from diverse-owned suppliers by nearly 10% by 2025.

“Over the past year, McDonald’s has solidified their approach to quantifying their impact to DEI,” says SupplyHive™ President and CEO Lou Sandoval. “We have become a trusted partner and continue to manage their vendors and now we will help them measure their entire network under the MCDEI commitment.”

Becoming a trusted partner shows that McDonald’s sees SupplyHive™ as a mover and shaker in the U.S. marketplace, says Sandoval.

“We have worked with McDonald’s on the vendor management side, and now they are taking us on as a partner to help them measure some of the promises they made regarding diversity, equity and inclusion,” says Sandoval. “While we continue as a vendor, we are now a partner and will be providing them with guidance and advice on how it can grow and make its supply chains more equitable to all groups.”

Read More: SupplyHive™ Gears Up as McDonald’s Trusted Partner; Chicago-based company opens doors for a more diverse vendor supply chain

Diverse Investors Join $2 Million SupplyHive™ Seed Round; Investors Sixty8 Capital, Angeles Investors and Service Provider Capital solidify diversity, inclusion missions


SupplyHive™, a Chicago-based innovative provider of Supplier Performance Management (SPM) technology, announced today that it fully subscribed $2 million in seed funding from three new investors with DNA in diversity and inclusion: Sixty8 Capital in Indianapolis, Indiana, Angeles Investors in Chicago, and Service Provider Capital LLC in Denver.

CHICAGO (PRWEB) OCTOBER 14, 2021

SupplyHive™, a Chicago-based innovative provider of Supplier Performance Management (SPM) technology, announced today that it fully subscribed $2 million in seed funding from three new investors with DNA in diversity and inclusion: Sixty8 Capital in Indianapolis, Indiana, Angeles Investors in Chicago, and Service Provider Capital LLC in Denver.

“The core of each of these new investors shows the power and growth that comes with the application of diversity and inclusion,” said SupplyHive™ President and CEO Lou Sandoval. “We continue to grow our list of enviable brands that will partner with us into the future, starting with their supply chains.”

Sandoval said the SupplyHive’s™ SPM solution offers much-needed transparency to all companies seeking to solidify their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts by leveraging performance data to assist in developing suppliers and helping them grow.

“This fosters inclusion that helps large corporations be better partners to diversity and all of their suppliers,” said Sandoval.

Despite an economic-jolting pandemic during 2020, SupplyHive™ subscribed a number of major clients, including Facebook, MARS Global, McDonald’s Corporation, Abbott, BOX, Eaton and First Energy — all taking a leading-edge approach to Supplier Performance Management

SupplyHive™ did not stop there. With the addition of Sixty8 Capital, Angeles Investors, and Service Provider Capital, SupplyHive™ will have the strength to deliver even more. These diverse venture capital firms continue the growing trend in venture-backed start-ups with diverse funds that support diversely founded companies.

“Most of all, they will continue to envision the American Dream with inclusion and opportunity,” said Sandoval.

Read More: Diverse Investors Join $2 Million SupplyHive™ Seed Round; Investors Sixty8 Capital, Angeles Investors and Service Provider Capital solidify diversity, inclusion missions

Chicago United Names Lou Sandoval to 2021 Business Leaders of Color List

Supplier management software SupplyHive raises $2M


By Jim Dallke – Senior Editor, Chicago Inno August 04, 2021


SupplyHive, a Chicago software startup that helps large companies rate and review their suppliers, is catching on with several well-known brands and is preparing to grow with a fresh round of funding.

SupplyHive announced it raised a $2 million seed round led by LOUD Capital, along with Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and Cleveland Avenue’s CAST US fund. Cleveland Avenue was founded by former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson and earlier this year raised a $70 million fund to invest specifically in Black, Latinx and women-owned companies in Chicago. 

Read More: Supplier management software SupplyHive raises $2M

SupplyHive™ Announces Closing of $2 Million Seed Round with Diverse Major Venture Capitalists: LOUD Capital, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and Cleveland Avenue

Chicago startup lands investment from Don Thompson’s diversity fund


SupplyHive simplifies the procurement process and allows companies to find and work with suppliers led by minority leaders.

July 27, 2021 03:10 PM KATHERINE DAVIS  Crain’s Chicago Business

A Chicago startup that’s simplifying procurement for businesses just raised new financing from a group of investors that includes a fund for underrepresented founders from former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson.

SupplyHive announced it raised $2 million in a seed round on Tuesday. Besides Thompson’s firm, Cleveland Avenue, participants included Steve Case’s Revolution Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and Columbus-based LOUD Capital, which led the round.

Cleveland Avenue backed SupplyHive through its $70 million Cleveland Avenue State Treasurer Urban Success Fund, which was announced in March. The fund specifically invests in companies led by Black, Latino and female entrepreneurs in Chicago’s South and West Side neighborhoods. Cleveland Avenue has also backed Chicago companies like 86 Repairs and DrugViu.

Led by founder Mike Anguiano and President and CEO Lou Sandoval, SupplyHive makes software designed to help businesses centralize, standardize, scale and automate the supplier performance process using artificial intelligence and machine learning. The company, launched in 2018, says its clients include Facebook, MARS Global, McDonald’s and Abbott.

SupplyHive also allows companies to find and work with suppliers led by minority leaders.

The new financing will be used to grow the startup’s sales and marketing teams, and further develop its product, Sandoval said in a statement. SupplyHive has raised about $4 million to date.

“The investment by these new diverse venture capital firms signals a growing trend in venture-backed startups diverse funds supporting diverse-founded companies, especially in the technology sector where there are so few diverse executives,” Sandoval said.

Read More: Chicago startup lands investment from Don Thompson’s diversity fund